Chapter 10

West blue, Ishiria island, roku town

The sun was setting over the small town called roku and the last of the vendors closed their stalls to prepare for the night. The drags of the townfolk started looking for a place to sleep at at night while others decided tonight would be the night to mug some poor bugger.

In one corner at the far outskirts of the town, bordering on the close forest was a small house with a little backyard. Said house and backyard belonged to an old man, namely Lee Mu Bai, otherwise known as old man Bai to his ever growing chagrin even though he introduced himself regularly as such. Self mocking? maybe. Would he tell anyone the truth? Most certainly not.

And in exactly that backyard was a young man going through some forms in slowmotion with eyes closed while remembering his fight, while fiddling in his mind with what he could have improved or done differently. After some time said young man, namely Azul, sat down still with eyes closed and started to immerse himself in his breathing exercises once again, as he had done for some years now, every single day under the watchful eyes of his master. But this day was different since his master was missing, not looking carefully over his student but leaving him to his own for the first time.

After one hour of silence, only disturbed by the ruffling of the soft wind in the trees and the occasional chirping of a nearby chipmunk, old man Bai appeared on the lawn taking one critical look over his disciple before nodding once, seemingly satisfied with what he had seen, after which he softly spoke "Azul, follow me." before walking off into the house.

Azul having heard his masters voice opened his eyes, stood up without a sound and followed after his master, wondering what he wanted.

As Azul entered the house he saw his master standing at the frontdoor before walking out leaving his disciple to follow him, which he did without protest. While the sun was beginning to sink in the west they reached the forest. They kept on walking until they came to a mountain that made up the middle of the island and started to track up a small path that had been walked alot from the looks of it but was hidden very well. The further they got along the path the less trees grew on it and the rockier it got. At some point the sides of the path started to be framed by weird looking statues that seemed to look down upon the traveler with different faces, showcasing various emotions.

They kept on walking in silence, as Azul felt like the circ.u.mstance demanded from him to keep his mouth shut, why he didn't know though but he obliged his instincts without batting an eye.

Soon they reached the peak which was framed in clouds but otherwise b.a.r.e except a round stoneslap on top of a ledge that protruded into the sky giving an unbelivable view over the whole island and the bordering ocean reaching all the way to the all encompasing horizon.

"Sit." came his masters voice, ripping him from his wonder of the beauty the world presented to him.

Without protest he did, crossing his legs under him and resting his eyes on the world before him.

"You came to me just a boy and over the years I tried to form and shape you to the best of my abilities. You still have a lot to learn but the basics that you learned have sunken in and have formed you into a fine young man, for that I am proud of you."

"Master I-" Azul said, emotions rising inside of him.

"Be quiet, control your emotions and listen." Old man Bai said in a voice that allowed no arguing and so Azul took a deep breath and focused on his flame that had begun to grow once again. After a while when he had calmed down he refocused on his master once more that started speaking as soon as he registered that he regained his disciples attention.

"In the old days, way before the world government took the reigns into its hands a few children every century were chosen to be trained as warriors of the breathing arts. Those that were privy to those things commonly refered to them with the name 'Sanga' which means something along the lines of 'those that seek to enlighten themselfs by following the breath'. Once the disciples had reached the last point of the apprentice stage they were brought on top of this very mountain where they would spend the night in deep meditation to finally break into the realm of the journeyman and start following the breath where ever it lead them to. You and me, we are what remains of the Sanga and once I am gone you will be the last there is. It will be your choice to make if you want to groom another disciple or take what I taught you into the afterlife. I will not influence your opinion on those things, as I will be long gone by then.

Now, to reach the stage of the journeyman you will choose one elemental breathing technique that I taught you and integrate the understanding you gained of it into the core of your very soul. From then on you will strive to practise only said technique as the other ones will have lost all meaning to you by then. This will be a choice made for life and once made cannot be undone. Of course you will not keep on breathing like you did to practise those elements as in the basics. No, that stage is over. It only served to give you an understanding of the nature of said element and which breathing style fits it the most. In the journeyman stage you will fuse your soul and body into one entity until it manifests into your spirit which will show itself in the form of haki. You do this by calmly breathing, continuously fueling the fire inside yourself, using it as medium to form a bond between body and soul until your flame spreads to the rest of your body, encompassing every single fiber. Do not be afraid, it will not harm you. The challenge is keeping your mind calm all the time, otherwise the flame will burn you from the inside out until nothing remains that was once you.

I will leave you now and return in the morning. I know you can do it. Have faith in yourself."

With those words old man Bai turned around and left Azul to himself who was still absorbing everything he had just been told. After arranging his thoughts for a couple of minutes he took a deep and long breath to calm himself down before closing his eyes while a quiet yet firm expression overtook his face. He would not fail!